How Fred Trump’s Empire Made Donald Trump Millions

In Donald Trump’s version of how he got rich, he was the master dealmaker who parlayed a $1 million loan from his father into a $10 billion empire. But a New York Times investigation shows that in every era of Mr. Trump’s life, his finances were deeply intertwined with, and dependent on, his father’s wealth.

“I took a tiny, little, beautiful little company — started by my father, and I gained tremendous knowledge from my father because he was a great negotiator — and I built it into a massive company that’s worldwide.” “He was so proud of me, but I borrowed very little money from my father.” “My father was tough. And he was from Brooklyn. And he built houses in Brooklyn. And I borrowed a million dollars, and I built it into a company that’s worth more than $10 billion.” “You know, I started off actually, with a father who was great, but he was in Brooklyn, Queens — you grew up in Brooklyn or Queens I think, right? So you understand, it’s a different kind of a world.” “It’s not been easy for me. It has not been easy for me.” “A lot of people like to say, oh, my father was this ‘massive real estate guy’ — it was this beautiful, little small company, O.K.?” Reporter: “I know the projects he built.” “My father gave me great knowledge. Didn’t give me a lot. And later on — when he passed away — gave me something. But I have brothers, sisters —” “My father didn’t have that kind of money where he could give that kind of money out. My father didn’t want me to go into Manhattan.” “... and he said, ‘Son, that’s not our territory, we should stay here. That‘s not — you know nothing about that’ — ‘But I want to build big buildings, Pop.’” “... because he was from Brooklyn and Queens where we did, you know, smaller things.” “And by the way, when my father passed away — remember, I have four, I have a total of five in my family, so we have brothers, sisters, split.” “I have all these people writing books about ‘I got this, I got that’ — I got peanuts!” “And when my father died, by that time I had already built a great fortune, and my father didn’t leave a great fortune, it was Brooklyn and Queens real estate, and it wasn’t a great fortune. But now what they do is they build it up like, ‘Oh, he left Donald money —” “And my father never gave any money, when my father passed away he gave some, but by the time he had passed away I had already built my business.” “I built this empire, and I did it by myself. Nobody did it for me.”

How Trump Got Rich

How Fred Trump’s Empire Made Donald Trump Millions

In Donald Trump’s version of how he got rich, he was the master dealmaker who parlayed a $1 million loan from his father into a $10 billion empire. But a New York Times investigation shows that in every era of Mr. Trump’s life, his finances were deeply intertwined with, and dependent on, his father’s wealth.